Scam by the Card Companies - minimum payments by DD

scottyb46

Just wanted to alert people to a new scam by the card companies (or rather one in particular, MBNA it will not surprise anyone to hear).

We have a direct debit set up to pay the full amount on an MBNA card. The direct debit is still valid, it appears on our online banking as valid and so on. It was a while (about 10 months) since the card was used when it came out of hibernation last October and was used. As a direct debit was in place we did not do anything to make a payment. When the statement after the one with the puchases on it came showing that no payment had been taken, plus interest and a late payment fee we were pretty miffed. No matter I thought, a phone call will sort this out. How wrong can one be? Apparently it is MBNA policy that if a card has not been used for 6 months then they cancel their direct debit mandate and do not collect automatically. They refused point blank to refund charges and interest, despite not having notified us that the direct debit mandate had been cancelled. They were unable to provide a good explanation as to why it was still valid according to our bank.

I will be writing to the financial ombudsman about this, but Martin if you want to highlight this latest skullduggery then please go ahead - this is nothing short of a con in my opinion and I would rather embarrass them and their double standards than have the money back to be honest. I would particularly enjoy anyone from MBNA attempting to defend this in public, ie saying to people set up a DD so you don't miss a payment, unless they want to claim some fees from you of course.

CannyJock

Definitely not defending MBNA here, but I'm assuming that your statement didn't state they would be collecting the payment by direct debit?

scottyb46

Quite correct, it didn't, and that is the line they are taking. However, if you know your DD is set up, and the statement is silent about it (they actually print details about this kind of thing on a seperate sheet) why would you be looking for it? It is, in my opinion, a deliberate trap set for the unwary and as such needs to be highlighted. If it was not a deliberate trap they would have refunded the charges and said they would alter the statements to make it clearer, and write to advise all customers with direct debit payments that if the card was not used for 6 months this would be the case.

I just want to highlight the fact that this is their practice in order that other people fall victim. It is a scam in all but the strictest definition of the legal term.

eschaton

It's not a trap or a scam - just an example of people like yourself not being able to read.

When your lazy attitude causes a problem you want to blame everyone else apart from yourself.

CannyJock

Don't you think that's a bit harsh considering the 6 months expiry on the DD mandate is news to everyone else too?

CLAPTON

it's generally the case that a DD that is unused for 13 months is cancelled by your bank.

so 6 months being cancelled by the CC company is most unusual and I for one wouldn't have thought to check for this.

eschaton

CannyJock wrote: »

Don't you think that's a bit harsh considering the 6 months expiry on the DD mandate is news to everyone else too?

Is this 6 month thing true ?

Is it in the T&C's ?

Answers required...

dave461_2

Just looked in my terms and conditions and on the direct debit setup letter, no mention of how long without use before they cancel the direct debit, so they could change it without informing you.
The only way you'd know would be to notice the line missing off your bill which says the payment will be taken on a certain date by direct debit.

stormCat99

eschaton wrote: »

It's not a trap or a scam - just an example of people like yourself not being able to read.

When your lazy attitude causes a problem you want to blame everyone else apart from yourself.

I find this extremely harsh. I have held many accounts with many companies over the years, and never have been aware of this. Agreed it (should) have said on the statement that it wasn't to be collected by DD, but as the OP says, if you know you have a DD setup, and haven't changed bank account in the interim, you would not expect it to just be cancelled for no obvious reason - esp if it still shows as active on your online banking.

I think this is rather underhand, and am surprised that when contacted about it, they did not refund charges as a one-off gesture. Definitely needs to be made clearer to customer IMHO.

td_007

eschaton wrote: »

Is this 6 month thing true ?

Is it in the T&C's ?

Answers required...

After your previous comment wonder why you are looking for answers

oscar52

Firstly (as some know) I work for MBNA.

I have never heard of a DD being cancelled after 6 months. As Clapton has said, DD's will get cancelled by your bank if they have been inactive for 13 consecutive months (to comply with AUDDIS regulations)

However, I have seen cases were a DD has been cancelled if the previous one was returned to the bank because of insufficient funds.

Not suggesting that what has happened hasn't happened to the OP (if that makes sense:rolleyes:) But am completely unaware of them cancelling DD's (have seen some this week still active after 8 months inactive)